GE says no to N-power plants in India, cites liability risks

NEW DELHI: Diversified US conglomerate GE today ruled out participating in India's civil nuclear programme citing 'risks' over liability issue despite the country reaching an understanding with the American government.

"I am not going to run my company into risks for anything. There is no project that's worth so much to put GE into risks. No, never! We just have to have a common language," GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in a media interaction here.

He was responding to a query on whether the company would be investing in India's civil nuclear energy programme.

Stating that "there is an extremely standard liability regime the rest of world has adopted", Immelt said, "As we go forward and think about investing, whatever happens has to be homogenised between India and the rest of the world."

"This is not inventing stuff. This is a very established since the 1950s," Immelt added.

He further said the company "wants to continue to be a thoughtful advocate to have the US government and the Indian government continue to work together along those lines. But in the end, there is no incremental risk we are going to take to do business here".

"Let's see how it goes," he added.

Earlier this year India, which had ruled out amending the liability law, finalised the administrative arrangements on the nuclear deal with the US. Under it, foreign suppliers of equipment for nuclear reactors cannot be sued by victims in case of a mishap.

They can, however, be held liable by the operator who has the right of recourse that could be operationalised through the contract between the operator and the supplier.